University of Wynwood and Locust Projects Presents:
John D’Agata
Friday, September 24, 2010, 7pm
Locust Projects
155 NE 38th Street, Suite 100
Miami, FL 33137
305-576-8570
The fall semester at the University of Wynwood continues with visiting essayist John D’Agata. D’Agata will read from his new book About a Mountain (Norton, 2010), a lyric investigation into the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal program and the suicide of Levi Presley, a Las Vegas teen who jumped from the top of the Stratsophere Hotel and Casino in 2002. The reading will be be part of Locust Projects’ Skill Share program and will include an extended Q&A and book signing.
The event is free. Parking is available on the street.
JOHN D’AGATA is the author of About a Mountain (Norton, 2010) and Halls of Fame: Essays (Graywolf, 2003) and is the editor of The Next American Essay (Graywofl, 2002) and The Lost Origins of the Essay (Graywolf, 2009). Annie Dillard has credited him with “rededfining the modern American essay.” D’Agata earned MFAs in both nonfiction and poetry from the University of Iowa, and has since taught writing and literature at Colgate, the University of Wyoming, the California Institute of the Arts, and the University of Iowa, where he is now on the permanent faculty of the nonfiction writing program.
Praise for About a Mountain:
“Unquestionably art, a breathtaking piece of writing.” – Charles Bock, The New York Times Book Review
“The book’s connections dawn on you like a reverberating rhyme in a poem.” – Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe
“This is what, at its best, contemporary narrative nonfiction aspires to, a story that, like the novel, operates on many levels at once.” – David Ulin, Los Angeles Times
“When you’re reading D’Agata, you’re in such thrall to the dizzying literary risks he takes . . . you can’t help but be thrilled.” – William L. Fox, Las Vegas Weekly
“D’Agata’s distinctive narrative rhythms, melancholy wit, and keen perception of the social facade and the toxic darkness it conceals make for an acid test, and a ballad about the endless enigmas of humankind.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist
